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I am trying to bring a 77 back to life after it sat in my grandmas garage unstarted for over 15 years. This is my first venture beyond the basics with car work.
I changed most of the fluids and turned the motor over by hand a few times to make sure nothing was seized up. I put a new battery in and the electric was working. I just turned the key for the first time, it clicked one time and then did nothing. Now the electric is no longer working at all.
Any suggestions on where to go from here would be very appreciated!
Is the battery new? What is the date code on it? Try turning driving lites on first to see if fully charged or not. If lights are bright bang on starter with rubber mallet.. The neutral safety switch might be hung up also. So many items could be a problem. Try wire under dizzy from ignition switch is firmly on ,there is one there next to it that says tach!Next pull cap of distrubutor to check for rust in cap and on rotor if so car was not in climate controlled garage you will have condensation form which will turn to corrosion. Try rocking the car to free up starter. Good Luck have same year pm me i do not know every thing but some questions i might be abel to answer!
it clicked and did nothing because of a bad connection. double check the connections at the battery . then go under the car and check the ground cable where it bolts to the frame directly underneath the battery. if still no go. check the positive cable where it connects to the starter solenoid. right side (passenger) of engine near the rear of engine. also if you can. check that the cables themselves haven't turned green on the inside.
Check the cable connections at the starter. Just make sure you disconnect the negative battery cable at the battery before doing anything at the starter, Connections get corroded by just sitting, and I'll bet that batter cable at the starter has a tarnished connector, BTW that connector feeds the main power circuits.
Last edited by Mrvettenick; Jun 22, 2021 at 11:06 AM.
Yes, make sure the battery cables are clean both + & -
Like stated above, check at the starter solenoid big black cable, that is the positive cable from battery.
Also include a photo of the drivers side front fender, want to see if the Alarm Key is there or not.
That will tell us if it is early or late 77 build.
Here is a photo of a 77 Starter Solenoid.
The Black arrow is where the + battery cable is connected and where the fuse link(s) are.
Remove all those and inspect connectors and cable ends.
Before checking/messing with the cables and getting back under it today I tried the key again just to see. What do you know?? She tried to fire up! Wouldn't stay on and seemed to just be running off the starter fluid I sprayed in the carb. After a couple tries I could see gas dripping from the top of fuel pump.
Going to order a new fuel pump and clean up all the cables in meantime. Is there any reason to get a more expensive fuel pump or is the basic one fine??
Also for anyone who asked she does have the alarm key on the side.
77 starting issue
